Naming it Genocide is Not Enough

We must take time for hope. We cannot give up. Gathering like this for three years.

Still no protection; violence continues. It's depressing. It's numbing. It's even paralyzing. This is a long hard struggle and we have to keep going.

Today many of us wore white – the color of peace that we pray for and work for. It is also a color of death and of mourning in many cultures. So now that we are all standing up, I'm going to throw on the colors of the women's "topes" in Darfur. Our friends there – hundreds of thousands – are strong, and resilient, and hopeful. And they are wearing brilliant colors…..even in the camps. They are the colors of hope…..

For us standing here…many of you tired of coming out for three years now, we must look at what we have done so we can imagine what we can yet do!

The US Government for first time ever named a genocide while it was happening.

This was good, But it is not enough.

This and other governments must ACT based on their responsibility.

Saying the right things is not good enough.

Our government must DO the right thing.

In response to worldwide appeals and the images and witnesses from Darfur and Chad, millions of displaced people and refugees are being kept alive with food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Humanitarian workers have stood up to threats and overcome obstacles. The largest humanitarian response in the world right now.

This is good. BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH.

Now we need these people to be protected and safely returned to their homes.

We need less talk and more action.

Pressure on the UN Security Council and by American activists on the US enabled these horrific crimes to be referred to the ICC so that perpetrators can be prosecuted. A few criminals have been named.

THIS IS GOOD. BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH.

We need higher level officials to be named and indicted and brought to the Hague and we need the United States Government to cooperate with the court and send over the evidence it has.

An amazing movement has mobilized to show powerful actors in corporations and finance that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. If you are involved in moving money that enables atrocities in Sudan, you are responsible! That message is out there. But this is not enough.

We now have the job to make people who pay for genocide pay a price for the collusion in the crime.

THE US HAS PUT SANCTIONS IN PLACE…AGAIN IN RESPONSE TO OUR PRESSURE. THIS IS WELL AND GOOD. BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH.

Bush must stiffen the sanctions, get European governments to enact and enforce similar and tougher sanctions, and for heaven's sake – the US must enforce its own sanctions!!! Today we tell President Bush:

Talking tough is not enough!

[Come to think of it – these sanctions are part of Plan "B'. This is good – but what happened to Plan "A"? In health care – where people's lives are at stake – you have do "A" work. B is not good enough when you're responsible for life and death. So Plan B better be as effective as "A" .]

Last year the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for 20,000 international troops with the power to protect civilians in Darfur. This was GREAT. BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH!

We are still waiting. The people of Darfur are still waiting. The nations of the world must act on this resolution…and get the protection force on the ground. Every day we delay, more people die.

Did you hear the president's speech at the Holocaust Museum two weeks ago? Right after he saw the incredible Google Earth exhibit on the destruction of Darfur – he gave a speech where he said – the time has run out for Bashir. But then—practically in the same breath, he said, "I'm giving the UN more time to discuss and negotiate"

There is no more time.

There was no more time three years ago.

I work with doctors. Can you imagine a dying patient coming to the hospital with a heart attack or a gunshot wound and the staff saying, we need more time before we do anything?

Today we tell President Bush and other world leaders:

More delays mean more deaths.

SO JOIN WITH ME – SAY THESE WORDS LOUD ENOUGH SO THAT THEY REACH OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND COLLEAGUES IN DARFUR WHO ARE COUNTING ON US: